“Kimmy? Oooooh, Kiiiiiiimmy!”
A face hovered in her field of vision, bringing her out of her daydream. The face laughed when it noticed it got her attention.
“Kimmy's got that look on her face,” Penny announced triumphantly.
“I don't doubt it,” Amy came to her defense. “After all, it's her time of the year.”
Kimberly looked over where the youngest Blakeney sister was peeling potatoes. At the same time, Sandy tapped her on the shoulder as she went to fetch the plates to set the table for dinner. “So who is he?” she asked.
“I don't know.”
“Is he a local?” Amy inquired.
“No.” Kimberly shook her head. “The car had out of state plates.”
“Whoo-hoo! New guy!” Tammy announced. “That should prove interesting.”
“It only means he hasn't heard the stories about us,” Penny said.
“Not yet,” Amy interjected, setting the pot of beans on the table. “Sooo, tell us what you know.”
Kimberly shrugged. “Not much.”
“Is he cute?”
The smile came to her face before she could help it. “Yeah.”
“Blond, brunette, or what?”
“He has brownish hair. And green eyes.”
“Bet he's got the bod to go with them,” Tammy said, earning a titter of laughter from the other three sisters.
“I wouldn't know,” Kimberly said. “They turned to go to the plant.”
“They? There's more than one of them?” Sandy practically pounced on the revelation.
“Maybe we need to go into town and check them out,” Tammy suggested.
“Not until after dinner,” a firm male voice spoke out.
Kimberly looked up to see their father stride into the room. As usual, his coveralls were coated in dirt and grime, but he had washed his face and hands before coming to the table. His jet black hair glistened where he'd used his wet fingers to comb it back from his forehead.
The barrel-chested man sat down at the head of the table where his daughters joined him. He waited for everyone to began passing around the dishes before commenting. “What's this about wanting to go into town?” His voice rumbled like thunder. Manderly Blakeney was an imposing figure, even in a pair of filthy overalls.
Like her sisters, Kimberly gave their parent a loving smile. His black-eyed gaze immediately locked onto her, just as she knew it would.
“I felt my heart calling,” she told him.
The man would neither deny her, nor deride her. Neither would he question the validity of her comment. Blakeney women didn't take the heart call lightly, and he knew she wouldn't make the claim unless she felt it was the real deal...except for the fact that...
“This is the third time you've said that,” Tammy pointed out, in case anyone had forgotten. Kimberly shot her a dirty look, but Sandy was quick to defend her twin sibling.
“We're half witches,” she also pointed out. “We can't be as certain as Daddy was when he met Mom.”
Kimberly opened her mouth to back her sister when Manderly rumbled, “The heart call is only the first part. The hex will determine whether or not you will love unconditionally.” Giving Kimberly a conspicuous wink, he added, “The hex has never let you down.”
“Thank goodness for that!” Amy crowed, and lifted her glass.
“Hear, hear!” the other girls responded, also raising their glasses in agreement.
They proceeded to eat dinner, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Momentarily free from any further teasing, Kimberly allowed herself to drift back to those scant seconds that she now believed had changed her life.
As Tammy had said, this was her third time to feel what her kind called the heart call. When her body had gone stiff at the sight of the young man in the battered brown car. When his green eyes had met hers, and the world had shuddered to a complete stop until the car turned the corner, and visual contact was broken.
She'd continued to move automatically toward the hardware store to finish her errands, but her body no longer felt connected. Her heart continued to beat, but the blood had somehow turned into sludge, and was oozing sluggishly through her veins.
Yes, this was her third time in as many years to feel the heart call, but this time it felt different. It felt purer, and deeper. More importantly, it felt real.
If this was the actual call, if this time was meant to be the one, then she knew she would see the stranger with the soul-deep gaze again. And soon. Very soon. Because as hard as she was called, he would be feeling the same tug, and he would start looking for her.
And where do visitors go when they first hit the small town?
“Where do you girls think you'll be heading tonight?” their patriarch inquired, as if he wasn't already aware.
“Sebastian's,” Kimberly answered, and her sisters cheered.
“Bare bellies and beer!” Tammy crowed, earning her another round of cheers.
The rest of dinner was unusually quiet as they quickly finished their meal and cleaned up the kitchen. Once that was done, they changed clothes, and everyone piled into the ancient Volkswagen van to head into town. Everyone except for Dad.
“You sure you don't want to come along?” Kimberly asked him, peeking around the doorway.
Her father glanced up from the huge earthenware bowl on the kitchen table. Surrounding it were several glass apothecary jars, a few of them containing substances which she didn't recognized, and the mortar and pestle. “No. I need to work on a potion to get rid of some vine borers that have started attacking my squash. You go on ahead. Listen, I hope this is the real thing for you, sweetheart, and you find your young man.” His smile was warm and genuine. He understood what she was feeling.
“Well, don't let those pesky insects get you down, Daddy. We'll be home before midnight.”
He nodded, his attention re-centered on measuring out ingredients.
Smiling, Kimberly skipped out the door where the girls were waiting for her.